Monday, November 28, 2011

RevGalBookPals: The Friends We Keep

Last
year around this time, I bought a Fisher-Price nativity set to use with
children at church. Then my son absconded with it and now I do not know where
most of the set is. Last week, I said to my husband in regard to the set, “I have
not seen Jesus since March.” (What kind of pastor says that?) It’s true,
though. Within twenty minutes, I can find the most popular parts of the set at
our house (and maybe yours). All of the animals are in regular play rotation.
The donkey, the cow, the dog and the sheep all have roles in the pretend world
of toddler play at my house.

The animals that witnessed the
birth of the Savior of the world are bus passengers, log house residents, and
obstacles for trains and cars to pass just in time. This is the opposite of
what happens in most of congregations, wherein the animals are trotted out to
be sure everyone gets a part in the Christmas pageant and then we do not think
of them again. Perhaps your congregation has a Blessing of the Animals or
another service. Yet, what is the role that animals play in our theology and in
the lives of our congregations?

Early in the book, Hobgood-Oster
shares the story of the death of her dog, Beaugart. She explains his
significance to her life and faith:

Beaugart and I were
companions in a relationship that I have no doubt was sacred. If anyone denies
this, I will stand up and cite the most hopeful aspects of the history of the
church and my understanding of God as a foundation to this claim calmly and
surely: that God was made concrete in the relationship between Beaugart and me.
With his death, I cried, I hurt, I grieved. But I would not have given up those
years of companionship and joy for anything… I believe it is this connection,
this gift of enduring presence and love, that is sacred. In these relationships
we find God. (41)

For
those of us who have (or have had) companion animals of any kind, this passage
has a particular resonance. Even without a history with pets, many of us know
of someone whose animal is their support and comfort. Our connection to
companion animals is somewhat obvious, but Hobgood-Oster points out that
animals are still harmed in the breeding and marketing of pets. Puppy mills and
backyard breeding create unwanted animals that are often sacrificed in the
pursuit of having a “perfect pet”. Additionally, people often fail to research
breed or species specifics and end up with more than they expected. Many
animals that are born to be pets end up being killed because there simply was
not a place for them to go.

It
is easier to end lives when we view the “other” as wholly different from
ourselves. It has been this way between humans and animals for most of human
history, but it has also been this way between human beings. Hobgood-Oster
writes:

Since
the earliest days of Christianity and before, sport that involved the bodies of
“others”, a complicated category of those both human and animal thought to be
expendable, was central to many dominant cultures, including those in the
Mediterranean world. Some generalizations about such sports are part of popular
Christian legend. We hear about “throwing Christians to the lions,” but the
entire story is much more complicated. The dominant members of those societies
would select those who were exploitable and expendable and put them into the
gladiatorial arena for entertainment. In the first several centuries of the
Common Era, as Christianity was growing slowly throughout the Roman world,
those who chose this new religion often faced death alongside animals. (49f)

Instead
of Christians continuing in solidarity with their fellow victims, instead
history reveals the bullied becoming the bully. Slowly, scriptural
interpretation put human beings at the center of God’s will, God’s plan and
God’s salvation. Carrying forward from the Great Chain of Being through to the
Enlightenment, we became more focused on God’s work in the world being not just
primarily, but solely for and
through people. Hobgood-Oster argues that this has happened for a variety of
reasons, two of which are increased emphasis on the Word (which involves speaking and hearing as human constructs) and the loss of saints’ hagiographies
in common discussion and awareness. She shares many stories from St. Francis
and the wolf to St. Brigit and the dog to the ox and ass adoring the infant
Jesus in the manger.

All of these wonderful stories of saints
with animals speak loudly to the radical extension of Christian hospitality to
all animals… Each of these holy people was closely connected to animals and
sought after their well-being; they extended hospitality to the entire
creation. Also, as these stories attest, though it has often gone unnoticed in
the history of Christianity, humans are not the only ones who offer
hospitality. Other animals do so as well, providing safety, food, and
companionship to humans. (126)

As
I was reading the book, I had to wrestle with my own internal misgivings each
time the author introduced a new story from the lives of the saints. I am not
crazy about hagiography and I kind of grind my teeth at the idea of all these
animals and people, miraculously living together. Then it dawned on me that
this was precisely the point that Hobgood-Oster is trying to make. The time has come to bold in our proclamation of God for all, if this is what we truly believe. Not just all humans, but all creation-from the fluffiest and most photogenic to the tiniest and least visible.

Re-imagined Great Chain of Being Showing the Interconnectedness of All

People
will dismiss charity to animals or broadening theology to include salvation to
all creation by saying that animals do not have reasoning ability (not true),
do not have feelings (not true), or are not as important as people (not true).
If we ignore the most vulnerable around us (arguably animals), we can easily
make the leap from ignoring animals to ignoring people who are somehow less
functioning members of society (however that’s determined). As Christians,
either every aspect of our live is connected to our faith or none of it is.
What’s it going to be with regard to animals?

According
to Laura Hobgood-Oster,

If God is incarnated
in Jesus, does that event point to God’s incarnation in all bodies and all
creatures? With this deep concept of divine incarnation undergirding the
tradition, Christianity is necessarily a religion of compassion; because we are
all, humans and others, connected to and in relationship with each other, the
God exemplified by this incarnation embodies an ethic of care… While
Christianity has historically been a religion of orthodoxy (of right beliefs),
when issues of compassion are paramount, it must function as a religion of
orthopraxy (of right practice). Right Christian practice in the contemporary
world, with the many suffering animals in our midst, calls us to alleviate that
suffering and to extend compassion, hospitality, and mutual relationship to all
of God’s creatures. (170)

Within The Friends We Keep, Hobgood-Oster also has discussions around
horse-racing, dog-fighting and trophy hunting. She includes a provocative and
informative chapter on animals as a food source and the uncompassionate ways
they are raised until slaughter. Her language is usually straightforward and
each chapter stands well on its own, making this a fine book for a multiple
session study. She includes discussion questions, ways to respond and become
involved and liturgies for animal blessings and funerals. This is an
exceptionally long review for a very stimulating book.

So, Rev Gals and Pals, has your
congregation expanded its theology to include animals? If so, how did you do
it? What are your thoughts on the relationship between how we treat animals and
how we treat people? What are your suggestions on how to meet the question,
“But aren’t people more important”? Do you think this book is way off the mark
or are you putting it on your wishlist today?

RevGal Amy Forbus interviewed Laura Hobgood-Oster about this
book and you can read that interview here.

goodness... lots to ponder here. frequently where i serve, they hear dog stories and often... however, i also live in a cattle-raising, hog confinement rural area... how would they consider their stewardship here? holy work? sacred stuff? i suspect more than i know...

Crimson Rambler, she does mention Black Beauty in some of her history of how horses are used, but not much about Sewell.

Hot Cup, there is a lengthy discussion of how food and eating are central to our faith and religion, but how much of what we eat is not raised in a faithful manner. She does have a blessing at the end for animals that are for eating. Still, much of what she says is about ethics, but people make it about politics.

In seminary my ethics professor told a story about the death of the family dog (or cat?) His young children asked if their beloved pet was now in heaven. The professor told his children, No, animals don't have souls. A response which distressed his children and led to an interesting classroom conversation.

As a mother of two (now grown) kids, I have always thought that our pets and animals must join us in the grace of what comes next. Although, frankly, I have thought more about the life of animals in this life than I have of animals we eat and what kind of after life they might have...never ocurred to me, actually.

Julia, I think you might know that my church has a Pet Pantry, which is a food pantry for pet owners who are in financial difficulties. We're open twice a month on Saturday months and regularly serve about two dozen households. Since this ministry was one of the attractions to my current call, I am surprised that some people in the church complain (quietly, at least) about the Mission money being used heavily for the pet pantry. I'm not sure if that's about animals or about a sense that the people who can't feed their animals are somehow on the "undeserving poor" section of the Chain of Being. It's a farming town, historically, and most folks are dog lovers, so I'm thinking it's less about the animals and more about the people willing to take a hand-out. But I wonder...

I saw 3 bald eagles today. That's not unusual for where I live in the winter. In the summer, they're fishing by the mouths of rivers, but in the winter they are in town- scavenging at the dump. Not exactly the image you usually get of our national bird. This is one of the struggles of animal awareness- is there a difference between what sleeps in our house and what chills in our freezer? Is there a difference between either of those and us?

Martha, I did know about your pet pantry, which I think is amazing. It is one of those things that is not often remembered, but if our relationships with animals are one of the ways God encounters us- shouldn't we help others to have that experience? People often forget that in times of disaster, people will either leave pets behind or share food with them. In your house, you need to be able to have a gallon of fresh water (a day) for every animal- human and non-human.

The pets were a huge part of my misery about Hurricane Katrina: the ones left behind, the ones people *wouldn't* leave behind, the shelters that wouldn't take people with pets. I think the world learned a lesson in that one. Now you'll hear a storm shelter advertised with the explicit instruction that pets can come, too. (Not that I would want to go to one; I'm picturing a Noah's Ark mess. But good to make it possible.)

My previous parish has an animal ministry group; they collect bedding and food for the local shelter, take care of pets if an owner is hospitalized, etc. and there is a petition in the prayers of the people each week about caring for all God's creatures especially the animals that share our lives.

When I was there eating animals was not a topic, but I think more recently they have started a discussion of "ethical eating" which includes considering how animals that become food are treated.

A few years ago one of the (Episcopal) general ordination exam questions had to do with dealing pastorally with a man who had recently lost his wife, and now whose dog was dying...the question came down to "would you anoint the dog?" People who said yes got points off....very controversial question to some folks.

Something else, Julia -- the friendship with animals especially wild ones is often a mark of holiness in the stories of other faith traditions also, and has been appropriated to good effect (I think) by writers of imaginative fiction in these areas.